


Spring Feathers

by You_Light_The_Sky



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Don't copy to another site, Happy Ending, Inspired by Princess Tutu, Inspired by the Ugly Duckling, M/M, Magical Realism, Metaphors for Depression and Anxiety, Original Fairy Tale, Still Modern setting, Yuuri-centric, inspired by The Snow Queen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:47:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25033444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/You_Light_The_Sky/pseuds/You_Light_The_Sky
Summary: Yuuri, one of the thousands of people suffering from Ugly Duck Syndrome, has always admired the dancer Prince Viktor Nikiforov. But alas, who would dance with a boy who turns into a duck?Originally written for the YOI Fairy Tale Zine
Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov
Comments: 16
Kudos: 164
Collections: Once Upon A Time (The Yuri On Ice fairytale zine)





	Spring Feathers

**Author's Note:**

> This is a oneshot I worked on for the wonderful YOI Fairy Tale Zine. It was a lot of fun and challenged me to keep to a certain word count ahaha. Now that I'm finally allowed to post it, I hope other readers enjoy it too!

**1 oh little duckling**

The audience is absolutely silent. Yuuri feels sweat piling up on his back as he stands in the center of the stage, his seven-year old eyes peering at the sea of cameras and eager parents staring back. He hears the music, a familiar comforting tune of the Sugar Plum Fairy, sees Minako-sensei gesturing for him to start the dance.

It's his first major recital in Hasetsu. He's Minako's best student. She's  _ relying  _ on him.

His limbs tremble, even his fingers shake so badly that he’s sure the moon can see them. He tries to think of the music, of the gentle thrum and thrill of dancing alone, but all of those  _ eyes  _ just keep piercing into him! Be brave, be brave, he tells himself, be like Prince Viktor Nikiforov!

He jumps into the first position, into his routine, but with the first major jump, the whirlwind of colours and  _ eyes  _ and  _ everything being so LOUD, _ just melds and melds together until…!

A seven year old boy named Yuuri Katsuki starts the jump.

A tiny little duckling lands in his place, with a terrified quack.

:

“Ugly Duckling Syndrome,” the doctor says as his parents bury duckling-Yuuri in the softest coats and blankets they can, carrying him around like a precious egg.

Hiroko and Toshiya look at each other with creased brows. “What does that mean? Is it as dangerous as the Red Shoe Virus?” 

“Oh no, no,” the doctor shakes her head, putting her pen behind her ear. “The Red Shoe Virus makes someone dance and dance until their limbs catch fire. We’ve never been able to treat it. But luckily, the Ugly Duckling Syndrome is a relatively harmless curse  _ and  _ it can be treated.”

Both his parents slump downwards in relief. Hiroko quickly pats her hand against duckling-Yuuri’s feathers as if to check he’s still there. His little heart still quivers as he gazes up at Doctor Kazuno.

“Unlike most curses,” she continues, flipping through the medical chart, “this type of magic is self-inflicted… Ugly Duckling Syndrome in particular is caused by anxiety and self-loathing. He turns into a duckling when those feelings are truly unbearable for him, and will later become human again when he feels safer. The only cure lies in Yuuri himself.”

“But is there anything we can do to help?” Hiroko nearly buries her face against duckling-Yuuri’s blankets. He wants to reach out with his wings and dry her tears, he wants to bury himself in the blankets and never come out.

“Be gentle with him. Continue to love him. Most of all, be patient. This isn’t something that is his fault. With enough time, he’ll grow to break the curse himself.”

“Of course, of course,” his father bows his head low. “We will  _ always  _ love him. Thank you, Doctor Kazuno.”

Little Yuuri can’t help but close his eyes and tremble.

:

Their love is suffocating.

Hiroko makes all of Yuuri’s favourites, at least once a week, and always makes sure he’s eating healthy. She buys him new blankets every month and insists he soaks in the onsen every day. If he so much as sneezes, she's there with a vast assortment of scarves to put over his head and if he has another duck episode, she makes sure he has a little pond and plenty of fish to eat, and she won't leave him alone as a duck, ready to throw her frying pan at any animal that tries to eat him.

Yoshiya tries to talk to Yuuri at every chance he can, talking about the good old days or asking Yuuri to explain how the remote works for the hundredth time. Other times, he hovers over Yuuri's shoulder while he tried to do homework, and teaches the wrong way to do mathematics because math has never been his best subject.

Yuuri loves them, he  _ does,  _ but he can’t help the voice in his head that whispers,  _ your parents only coddle you because you’re a freak of nature. _

Only Mari treats him normally, throwing him into headlocks and teasing him about his waddle, wondering when he’ll sprout feathers as a human. Their parents scold her but Yuuri adores her for it.

At school, his classmates whisper about him. Duck-boy. Freak. So full of nerves, so weak, that he cursed himself.

Yuuko alone stays his friend and he hates how much he needs that. He wishes he could stand tall by himself.

:

“Yuuri,” Minako-sensei runs into him at the grocery store. “What’s this I hear about you quitting dance? You love dance!” 

He bows his head down. “I…” He balls up his fists. “I do but…!” 

He thinks of shocked gasps and laughter that erupted when his world became so small, when he turned into a duck on stage. He thinks of adults whispering that under a proper teacher, a  _ competent  _ teacher, Yuuri would have never cursed himself. He thinks of how he wasn’t able to say anything, only quack and quiver in his mother’s arms.

Suddenly he feels warmth around his shoulders as Minako-sensei draws him close. “Were you scared? It’s okay to be scared. Let it out.”

His breath hitches in his throat.

It’s the first time someone has told him that it’s okay to be scared. It’s always ‘ _ don’t be sad,’  _ ‘ _ don’t be nervous, _ ’ ‘ _ don’t’, ‘don’t’, ‘don’t’...! _

Yuuri cries.

He goes back to dance the next day.

:

Duck or not, he’ll dance.

**2 oh winter king**

Years pass, Yuuri grows up, becomes an instructor at Minako’s ballet studio. He still turns into a duck when he performs on stage so he avoids it completely. In front of his family, his students, his friends—he’s still human. He still dances.

He’s content. Sure, he’ll never dance on stage like he previously dreamed, never be as good as his idol, actual royalty, Viktor Nikiforov, but he’s content.

His curse doesn’t need to be cured.

:

Then one summer, it snows. The citizens of Hasetsu shrug it off, thinking it to be a one-time freak of nature or an odd omen. No one pays the snow any mind, until the next day.

The snow doesn’t stop. It piles up and up, as if to bury Hasetsu in white. Snow begins to reach peoples’ knees, the mayor frantically orders people to stay indoors because Japan isn’t built for so much  _ cold _ . 

A new wave of curses, people hiss. Yet more Wild Magic running amok to counteract the lack of magic in the world. 

In Japan, they call it the Snow Woman Curse. In Europe, the Snow Queen’s Gambit. In Russia, Old Man Winter’s Bite. It’s just like the Red Shoes Virus, except instead of a victim dancing and dancing till they burst into flames… they dance and dance, freezing everyone around them. No cure known.

“Do you think,” Yuuko whispers, her family taking shelter at Hasetsu Hot Springs, “The rumours about Wild Magic are true? That these curses bursting out of victims are repressed magic? Nature’s punishment for killing witches?”

“...I don’t know…” Yuuri admits. Each country has its own theory for curses, though this one is the most prevalent. Yuuri hates this theory, hates that he might be responsible for his own fate, that he might be a witch.

“It’s all garbage,” Takeshi cuts in. “I bet Wild Magic is like the ocean, a natural resource we don’t know how to harness yet. And with global warming, the Wild Magic just grows uncontrollable and strikes. We never used to have so many curses in the last century after all.”

“Are you kidding me?” Yuuko wrinkles up her nose. “Then how do you explain witches?”

“They’re just better at harnessing Wild Magic.”

“Then—”

“Yuuri!” His mother rushes in. “Have you seen Minako? She was supposed to take shelter here with us but it’s been an hour!”

Immediately, Yuuri gets up and throws on his coat. “I’ll go look for her! Stay here and keep watch! I’ll be back!” 

He’s out the door before anyone can stop him.

Cold stings his face with its fierce bite. The wind whips at his hair, blinds his glasses into blurred ice but still, Yuuri keeps going. Each lurch of his body sticks itself into the snow. He can barely see anything but white blurs howling and screaming. The wind has never been so alive or furious.

The cold hurts so much and Yuuri just wants to retreat into the cold again, close his eyes, die. But no. Minako-sensei has never given up on him, never looked down on him. He has to find her…!

He sees movement in the blizzard, a human shaped blur in the chaos.

“S-Sensei!” Could it be her? The wind drowns out any response he might hear. “Minako-sensei!”

The shadow moves closer and closer…

The air hums in anticipation… as if all the ghosts, killed by Winter, have decided to gather and howl in unison as one deadly choir. 

Suddenly, Yuuri sees  _ him _ . Aglow, the snow softly cascades in frigid blue light from the stranger’s hair. 

_ Him _ . Viktor Nikiforov, dressed in a sequined suit like an ice spirit dipped in frost and diamonds. His hair whips behind him, as vicious as the wind, as long as it used to be ten years ago… 

Viktor spins and spins on ice tipped ballet shoes, drifting closer and closer to Yuuri. Too close. Yet Viktor doesn’t shiver, doesn’t falter or fall, as dazzling as the first time Yuuri saw Viktor on screen.

Yuuri feels his breath leave him. “How…?” Is he hallucinating? 

“Get back Yuuri!” Minako-sensei, bundled up like a cuddly totoro creature, moves in front of him, pulling him away from the illusion. “Don’t look at him! Go back home!”

“But…!” Yuuri’s feet want to move. Yet he’s frozen in place. There’s something about Viktor… something he can’t name but feels so…

The wind howls.

(...lonely.)

**3 oh humans try**

Prince Viktor Nikiforov from Russia has been the first one cursed by Old Man Winter’s Bite. The news channels go ballistic at this scandal, broadcasting the Tsar’s wife tearful pleas for her son’s life on camera.

“Please. Anyone! Cure my son and our kingdom will be in your debt. We will pay  _ anything _ . Don’t kill him, please!”

And doesn’t that cause an uproar? Millions of fans pile petition over petition at world leaders to save Viktor Nikiforov, never mind that Japan is half frozen to death. Online cult followings track “Ice Storm Viktor’s” past and present path from Russia to Japan on maps. Soon thousands make the trip to Japan, despite dangerous sea conditions (and Japanese airways being closed) to do whatever they can to “cure” the prince.

Dancers perform in bundled up coats. Witches chant spells. Women and men try clinging to Viktor in ‘true love’s embrace’ but never get close enough.

Millions of Japanese citizens retreat to shelters as the snow rises higher... yet still Prince Viktor does not sink into the snow. He spins along the snow’s surface, above it all, uncaring of those flown in trying to break his curse.

Yuuri, huddled with hundreds of Hasetsu residents in a shelter, feels his heart ache when he sees the empty expression on Viktor’s face on broadcast…

:

“What do you think could break his curse?” Yuuko whispers, as Yuuri’s parents and Yuuko’s girls sleep.

“True love’s kiss?” Takeshi suggests.

“No way! Too easy. No curses break like that anymore. Besides, do you  _ want  _ to get executed by the Tsar?” 

“I think he’s lonely,” Yuuri says. “I don’t think any kisses could solve that.”

Yuuko and Takeshi exchange glances. “What makes you think that?” 

“...Because he’s dancing a pas de deux. All by himself. Extending his hand to an empty partner.”

“Then!” Yuuko sits up and takes his hands. “ _ You  _ could break the curse Yuuri! Be his partner! Dance his other part!” 

“Wh-what?! N-no!” Yuuri’s face goes red. “I’ve never seen a pas de deux like his! And I-I’m a terrible dancer! He needs someone better! A world class prima! Or…!”

“Or you,” Takeshi insists. Traitor.

“No. Not me. Absolutely not. Never.”

“But why—”

“You’re a great dancer!”

“I’m just a  _ DUCK! _ ” Yuuri roars.

The triplets snap out of their naps with a cry. His parents blink blearily at him in half-slept shock. Yuuko and Takeshi only gape, guilt clouding their eyes.

“Yuuri…”

“I… I’m sorry!” He rushes out to the hally, stepping over sleeping bags and food rations. He’s not going to cry. 

Don’t think about how silly, how  _ stupid _ , he would look next to a prince! 

He’s huddled in the hallway corner by the time Minako-sensei finds him. He flinches when she sits next to him, expecting beratement, expecting her to tell him to stop being so sensitive but she only nudges her shoulder against his and stays quiet. 

She listens to his tears.

“Yuuri,” she says very suddenly, “Do you know why I’ve always pestered you to dance?” 

He jerks his head against his knees. “Because I needed a hobby?” 

“No,” she laughs. “Because when you dance, you come alive. You’re free. The  _ real  _ you. Happy, sad, angry, afraid, you don’t hide it when you dance. Yuuri, your dances inspire me because of how vibrant you are.”

He feels his throat dry. “What… what are you saying?”

Mianko’s grins have always outshone the sun. “It means, someday you’ll be ready to show the world who you really are through dance. And if it isn’t today, that’s okay. Show the world who you are when you’re ready. The rest of us in Hasetsu only want you to feel safe and happy. We love you, do you know that?”

His cheeks warm and the  _ ache  _ in his chest is nothing compared to the ache from the tears in his eyes. He knows, he  _ does _ . It’s just… when he gets like this… he feels so alone… and it’s so easy to  _ forget _ …

Minako-sensei holds him close. “We do. We love you  _ so  _ much and we’ll wait as long as it takes until you’re ready to show the world who you are. But the question is… do you want to show who you are to this Prince Viktor? Do you want to save him?”

:

He… he doesn’t know.

**4 oh dancers spring**

The thing is, the first time Yuuri saw Prince Viktor Nikiforov dance, he thought he was watching a fairy or an angel on stage. He thought that Prince Viktor was beyond human, a being he would never be able to reach, only appreciate from afar. He thought he would always be content to be a duck and average and nobody.

But maybe… maybe that was naive and cruel. Because when Yuuri saw the prince later, dancing in the blizzard, he saw something terribly lonely.

Terribly human.

Maybe someone like Yuuri can never stand next to a prince. But, at the very least, he can try reaching out to someone lonely and human, the way Hasetsu has always reached out to him.

:

Yuuri and Minako-sensei head out into the snow without telling any news stations. 

They trek through the blizzard, equipped with sturdy snowshoes. The winds roar around them, as if screaming to leave the Prince alone.

“Please,” Yuuri whispers to the wind, “we just want to help him. And at the very least…” He thinks of how many gave up and left. “I don’t want him to be alone…”

Strange enough, the winds cease, as if an invisible dome has fallen around Yuuri and Minako-sensei, shielding them from the snow.

They gape for a moment, before carrying on with more fervor.

The winds begin to hum, to howl in a macabre tune, and then Yuuri sees him.

This time, the light doesn’t seem so ethereal. This time, Yuuri sees the emptiness in the Prince’s eyes, the false smile. This time, Yuuri sees how those fingers tremble.

He takes off his coat and snowshoes, ignoring Minako-sensei’s protests, leaving only his warmest pyjamas, his scarf and hat, his boots and mitts. Like a moth to a flame, he stretches out his hand to Prince Viktor’s and he  _ dances. _

He dances like he never has before. Awkward, fumbling, tripping over snow. Yet he dances and he  _ dances,  _ returning the pas de deux.

_ I’m here _ , he thinks, as the cold bites and bites through his pajamas, as chills rake through his spine, as frost tries to claim his skin. 

_ I see you _ , he thinks, eyes fixed on Viktor’s empty ones, trying to coax out the message that he wished that someone could have danced with him.  _ I  _ **_see_ ** _ you. You might be imperfect, but I see you and I’m  _ **_here_ ** _. _

It’s clumsy. It’s the most ungraceful that he’s ever been. But he has to keep dancing. Even if it doesn’t lift the curse, he won’t let Viktor be alone.

His face starts to turn blue. He can’t hear Minako-sensei’s shouting. He can’t feel the tears starting to freeze on his face, because he has to  _ smile _ —

It’s as if a veil has lifted, the moment Viktor blinks and looks at Yuuri as if seeing him for the first time.

And then, like magic, tears stream down Viktor’s face, and—

The snow stops.

The barrier falls.

The last thing Yuuri sees are startled blue eyes and a hand reaching out...

**5 oh sorrow’s end**

Yuuri wakes in increments. Sometimes he wakes to see his parents sitting by him, or Yuuko or Minako-sensei. He can never keep his eyes open for long, always drifting back to sleep. But the one constant, one he’s sure he’s hallucinating, is Viktor Nikiforov, resting in a nearby chair, hair short again.

What a lovely dream…

“You know,” Yuuri dreams of Viktor saying, “they keep telling me that I have nothing to be sad about, nothing that would warrant cursing myself. I’m royalty. Successful. What reason would I have to be depressed? But I was so numb. I was so tired of smiling, Yuuri.”

He feels dream-Viktor press his lips against Yuuri’s hand.

“Maybe… I wanted to destroy myself. Maybe I just wanted someone to see me. I danced out there for so long, I wasn’t sure who I was anymore…

“But  _ you  _ saw me, Yuuri, you beautiful soul. You let me cry. For that… how could I not look back at you too?”

Ah, Yuuri wishes he could hug dream Viktor. It was nothing, just what any decent person would do…

He drifts off, warm.

:

“Um…” Yuuri sweats nervously, surrounded by dozens of bouquets. “Who sent these?!”

“Why don’t you check the cards for the sender?” Minako-sensei purrs.

“I did! Someone’s playing a joke on me, sensei, all the cards say they’re from… well…!”

“Me?” another voice, too good to be true, interrupts.

The lilies in Yuuri’s hands fall on his lap. Minako-sensei only winks before she leaves, as Viktor Nikiforov walks in, dressed simply and yet still so unfairly handsome.

Yuuri feels his mouth go dry. “That dream… it was… real?!” 

Viktor’s laugh is warmer than any fantasy. “Do you often dream of me? I’m flattered.” 

Not like this, Yuuri thinks, not having a real conversation, not being so real and flawed.

“I… I hope I didn’t startle you,” Viktor says carefully, after an awkward silence. “I just wanted to express my gratitude. You freed me—”

“I didn’t do much—”

“Please,” Viktor takes Yuuri’s hand. “You  _ did _ . It was all you.”

“S-still,” Yuuri babbles, “you didn’t need to buy so many flowers to thank—”

“Oh. No. Only a few of these are here to thank you. My mother bought those. She tried to give your family a mansion but they declined… If a few rare diamonds end up in your mail, you’ll know why.”

“Then…!”

“These flowers are for courting you.”

What.

“But… you… you’re joking…”

Viktor leans in closer. “I wouldn’t joke about this. I want to know you. Your performance, it gave me, how the Japanese say? Doki dokis!” 

Yuuri.exe has stopped working. 

“But you’re royalty!”

“My cousin Yurio will get the throne.”

“People will talk!” 

“People always talk! This is the least scandalous thing they can talk about.”

“You don’t  _ know  _ me.”

“Ah,” this time Viktor is so close, their lips could touch, “but I very much want to.”

Oh.

“Is it so surprising that I’m so attracted to you after you danced for me?”

“I didn’t do it to earn your love! I did it to save you!”

“Ah, but Yuuri,” Viktor’s breath tickles his cheeks, “that’s what made me yearn for you.”

“I… I have Ugly Duckling Syndrome, I can’t cure it!”

“I don’t care.”

Yuuri covers his burning face with his hands. “You might grow to dislike me…” he murmurs through his fingers.

“Then,” Viktor gently touches the back of Yuuri’s hand, “we stay friends. I doubt I could dislike you though.”

Friends. He… He likes the sound of having Viktor in his life, even if things go wrong. And maybe… maybe things won’t go wrong. Maybe they’ll be right, for once.

“Okay…” he breathes. “Okay… let’s… let’s try it.”

“Amazing!!” Viktor throws his arms around him, placing a kiss on Yuuri’s forehead.

He panics, overwhelmed by so much affection, that the next thing he knows, he’s a little duck in Viktor’s hands, and this is it, Viktor will leave now—

Except Viktor’s face glows with adoration, more kisses gently peppering Yuuri’s head again. “Oh you’re so cute!” 

Yuuri lets out a startled quack, unable to fight back against the force of this sunshine smile, and he leans back into the touch.

He’s never been this warm as a duck before.

Human lips kiss Viktor back.


End file.
